Gary S Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 Has anyone found an alternative to the BMW supplied bearings for the final drive pivot? I have replaced these bearings before and have been looking for another option. Any suggestions? Gary Link to comment
ElevenFifty Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 Click here Lots of people use these. Install them carefully. Use red locktight to secure the inner 'race' to the pivot pin. Tons of info on this site about them ... do a search for "pivot bushings" Link to comment
RBertalotto Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 www.rvbprecision.com article here....... Link to comment
TREE Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 http://www.rvbprecision.com/motorcycles/bmw-pivot-bearing-replacement.html link to RVB above Link to comment
moshe_levy Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Use red locktight to secure the inner 'race' to the pivot pin. Tons of info on this site about them ... do a search for "pivot bushings" Do NOT use red Loctite. Use ONLY Loctite #270, which is green. This is the only approved threadlocker to be used in this application. I just wrote a how-to on installing these, with the work performed by Tom Cutter himself. He was quite specific on that point. The article will be out in the May issue of Motorcycle Consumer News. -MKL Link to comment
notacop Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Let the dealer do it, I buggerd mine on the first attempt. I mean, how often do one do it? We don't want all or dealers blowing away on a waft of cheap fixes do we? Link to comment
cycleman Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Actually on some other sites. folks that service these every 30 K miles don't use locktite. Recently when I did mine I made a compromise & just used blue locktite. It will prevent something from vibrating loose but yet be easy to break loose the next time I want to service these bearings. Link to comment
Peter Parts Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 When you think about it (and that includes snugging up the bearings after a while) it is a case of the fox, the chicken, and the rowboat. In other words, using Locktite, you can't get there from here (unless possibly you never have to snug things up again... yeah, no chance of that). As previous poster pointed out, few riders will become experts at this repair like Tom Cutter (a guy I admire). So don't fuss with Locktite. Over the years, I have stopped losing sleep about stuff working loose on a BMM (I loose sleep over stuff getting frozen in place and destroying my allen wrench socket set on a very aged BMW). Link to comment
ElevenFifty Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 I just re-installed pivot bearings after a pivot BUSHING failure (truth be told - I failed the bushings). I had used blue locktite on the pin to bushing interface where the bushing was slipping pretty freely on the pin (the torque side had a nice interference fit, the fixed side would slide onto the pin easily). After 25K, or so, I noticed that there was an occasional 'squeak' when I sat on the bike ... thought it was the shock. At around 30K, the pivots were worn to the point that I could get noticable deflection at 12-6 and 3-9 and could hear the bushings 'clicking'. Upon disassembly I noted that the bushings were scored and the inner edge of the fixed side bushing had flared slightly and was a bit of a challege to remove. I still think these are superior to bearings but installation integrity is critical and if the bushing to pin interface loosens, the bushings will wear badly. Live and learn. Blue is not red. Link to comment
Peter Parts Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 ElevenFifty - I don't have a picture of what you are saying happened inside the failed bearing? What pair of parts moved that Locktite would have prevented? Or are you saying the break took place during initial installation and...? Thanks. Link to comment
T__ Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Peter, you need to (permanently) Lock-Tite the brass bushing to the tapered pin at installation or the brass bushing will want to spin on the tapered pin rather than spin on the larger surface of the bushing outer OD to the bearing race.. When that happens (bushing spins on the tapered pin) the pin works it’s way into the bushing with use & things get loose again.. When the bushing is Loc-Tited to the tapered pin it forces the brass bushing to work on the largest outer surface not the smallest inner surface.. Twisty Link to comment
kiwiaudio Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 I don't understand this. Didn't the original bearings last you 70000 miles? Mine did. They cost $17 each if I remember right and they should go another 70000 miles ! Am I missing something here ? Link to comment
T__ Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 I don't understand this. Didn't the original bearings last you 70000 miles? Mine did. They cost $17 each if I remember right and they should go another 70000 miles ! Am I missing something here ? kiwiaudio, you are not missing anything.. Just some people are looking for what they think is a better mouse trap.. I’m with you & use the original BMW bearings & pins as once correctly lubricated & adjusted they last a long time with minimal problems.. If BMW engineering thought the brass bushings were better they would have gone to those long ago as the bushing approach would be a fair amount cheaper than the current needle bearings.. Twisty Link to comment
Peter Parts Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Peter, you need to (permanently) Lock-Tite the brass bushing to the tapered pin at installation or the brass bushing will want to spin on the tapered pin rather than spin on the larger surface of the bushing outer OD to the bearing race.. When that happens (bushing spins on the tapered pin) the pin works it’s way into the bushing with use & things get loose again.. When the bushing is Loc-Tited to the tapered pin it forces the brass bushing to work on the largest outer surface not the smallest inner surface.. Twisty Yes, that's the theory. But, among other issues here, I wonder how long a large bronze surface tapered bearing will remain the bearing surface as compared to a sliding-fit steel pin with Loctite? BTW, how well does Loctite hold a sliding fit steel (??) pin to an oily piece of bronze? Although I am a big fan f these bushings, a key was BADLY needed. Also, I thought it was fairly universally agreed that the BMW needle Paralever bearing is one gawd-awful mis-design. About "Factory always knows best"... you couldn't judge that from BMWs customer relations honesty track record (pity Toyota copied it). Link to comment
Gary S Posted March 21, 2010 Author Share Posted March 21, 2010 kiwiaudio The question originally was to find another source for the bearing that BMW offers. I have replaced these bearings before and was interested in any information others may have had regarding improvements in what has been a problem of premature failure. Gary Link to comment
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